Feeding and folding mechanism for wrapping machines



April H. B. TU'I 'HILL E'l'AL 2,239,945

FEEDING AND FQLDING MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed April 26, 19396 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 29, 1941. H. B. TUTHILL mm. 2,239,945

FEEDING AND FOLDING MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES I Filed April 26,1939 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 April 29, 1941.

H. B. TUTHILL 'EIAL FEEDING A'ND FOLDING MECHANISM FOR WRAPPINGMACHINES,

Filed April 26. 1959 s Sheets-Shet 4 Wags April 29, 1941. H. B. TUTHILLETAL 2,239,943

FEEDING AND FOLDING MECHANISM FOR W RAPPING MACHINES mm Apr i1 26. 19396 Sheets-Sheet 5 f, Hovaw ome A fifl 29, 1941. H. B. TUTHILL arm. 2 3

FEEDING AND FOLDING MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING "AflINES Filed April 26, 1939s Sheets-Sheet e m 2 co h folded upwardly.

Patent ed Apr. 29, 1941 v UNlTED STATES. PATENT oFFic FEEDING sun rommcnmcnlimsn ron' wmirrmo moms Howard B. 'luthiil and Harry E. Caldwell,Grand Rapids, Mich, amignors to Oliver Machinery Company, Grand Rapids,Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application April 28;, 1939, Serial N 0.270,066

' (cl. sa-ii 15 Claims. This invention relates generally to feeding andfor feeding and folding'inwardly the ends of pasteboard blanks, whichhave'previously been scored, to form what is commonly known as .U

' boxes.

These U boxes are adapted to be filled between the upturned ends thereofwith articles of any desired shape or contour. The boxes are thenwrapped and placed on sale. The economical feature of these boxeswill;.he immediately apparent upon considering the fact that the sidesand covers are omitted, and they are ordinarily wrapped with atransparent material such as Cellophane so as to be enable theprospective purchaser to view the contents thereof.

Heretofore. these 'U boxes have beeniormed by hand before filling andwrappin but my infolding mechanism and is particularly adaptedpreviously filed application filed December 21, 1938 and bearing SerialNo. 247,063, or maybe made as a separate unit adapted to be connected toa wrapping machine and. operated in conjunction therewith in the. mannershown by our copending application filed June th, 1938 bearing SerialNo. 213,806. The operation of the folding machine itself will be thesame whether it is integral with or a separate unit from the wrappingmachine. 5 I

i It is the principal object of our invention to provide means forfeeding,a single pasteboard blank to amechanism designed to fold theends thereof inwardly.

Another object of the invention is to provide amagazine or rack to holda plurality of pasteboard blanks from. which the blanks are deliveredintermittently to the. folding mechanism.

vention is chiefly directed to a mechanism whereby these boxes may beformed automatically. It is to be understood that these boxes areadapted to receive any type of article, but they are commonly used in.the baking industry for containing articles such as cakes, cookies, bunsand sweet rolls. Since articles of this nature are usually round or atleast have curved'corners. they are difficult to wrap unless some meansof stiffening is provided at the ends thereof so that the article, inits final wrapped condition, will be similar to a box having squarecorners.

. It will be obvious that round cookies or round cakes, or even suchcakes that have been cut in half, would be most difficult to wrap unlessstiffening means were provided at each end, and this is precisely theobject of the U box, namely,

"the upturned endsthereof are 'adaptedto lie 7 against the cake orcookies and is wrapped in that condition. When the article is enclosedwithin the ends of a U box it adapts itself admirably to being wrappedautomatically by any of the well-known wrapping machines in use at thepresent time.

Specifically our invention is also directed to mechanism for feedingonly fiat pieces of cardboard which do not have the ends thereof turnedupwardly. when. substantially square cakes or V cookies are to bewrapped, it is not always necessary that reinforcing means at each endbe provided and in this case the cardbcards are fed in the usual mannerand conveyed to the wrapping machine except that the ends thereof .arenot The folding of thepresent invention may be either made integrallywith a wrapping machine of the character such as shown in our willactuate the aforementioned independent means at a speed greater than thespeed of the I conveyor. y V D Other objects of the invention willappear more fully as the description proceeds.

,To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends said invention,then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularlypointed out in the claims.

The annexed drawings and following description set forthin detailcertain means for car-.

rying out our invention, said means constituting,

however, but one of various ways in which the principle of the inventionmay be employed.

In said annexed drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to likeparts throughout the various views: Fig. l is a broken folding machine.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the machine as showninFig. 1. v

Fig. Sis a fragmentary enlarged vertical section takenlongitudinally-through the machine showing particularly the means whichactuate side elevationalview or the with a sprocket wheel.

blank to the folding mechanism and the folding mechanism itself. V

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the fingers and partsassociated therewith which carry a blank through the folding elementsand onto the conveyor. 1 r

Fig. '7 is a sectional view taken substantially on the plane of line 1-4of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken substantially onthe plane of line 8-8in Fig. 1.

Fig. 9.1a a perspective view of the resulting U a box having an articletherein ready to be wrapped.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the means fordisengaging the feeding mechanism and,

Fig. 11 is an elevational view showing a portion of one side of themachine wherein there is a connected to a compression spring I1. Theother I end of the compression spring is secured to a member l8extending inwardly from one side of the machine. The position of themember provided with them l3, l4 and 15 determines whether or not thegears i and 8 are in mesh;

the action of the spring I! tending to rotate the three arms in acounter-clockwise direction, will maintain the two gears out of mesh,but when the lever 9 is moved toward the left as viewed in Fig. l, thearm l2 and arm 13 to which it is connected, will be moved downwardlythus causing the arm Is to rotate'in a counter-clockwise directionagainst the force of the spring II on the arm ll to.thereby'engage thegears 6 and 8 for operation of the folding machine.

The rear portion of the machine is provided with side plates l8 at eachside thereof between modification of the means for intermittentlyfeeding the pasteboard cards. I

.Referring now more particularly to the drawings and more especially toFig. 1, the machine is supported by legs I at the front end and thelegs. 2 at the rear end. The particular device illustrated is adaptedfor use as a separable unit from the wrapping machine, but it is to beunderstood that the same mechanism embodied in the present machine canbe built integral with a wrapping machine without-in any way departingfrom the spirit of the invention. In this particular embodiment of theinvention, the front and rear legs are provided with castors '3 toenable the unit to be easily separated and moved away from the wrappingmachine.

The manner in which the operation of the folding machine is made tocoincide with that of the which at their rear ends is secured a plate orcasting 20 having a cross-section of the general configuration shown inFig. 3. Across the plate 20 in substantially a horizontal plane ispositioned an angle 2! secured to the plate by means of the bolts 22 orany other desired means. Each end of the angle 2! is provided with anear 23. Onthe wrapping machine at each side thereof are inwardlyextending members 24 which cooperate with the ears '23 on the angle 2ito guide the folding machine when it is being .moved to operativeposition. That is, the cars 23 are situated a distance apart slightlyless than the distance between the members 24 and the ears are movedinto place between the members 24 to prevent any side motion of themachine and. to hold it in operative alinement with the wrappingmachine.

The wrapping machine is also provided with a bar 25 which extends theentire distance across wrapping machine is quite similarin mostres'pects to the driving means between the slicing and wrapping machinesof our previously referred to application Serial No. 213,806 andconsists generally in a stub drive shaft t provided A chain 5 passesaround said sprocket-wheel and is driven from any desired source such asan electric motor. Also secured to the shaft 4 and driven thereby is agear .6. The shaft 4 together with the sprocket wheel and the gear 6 areall mounted at one end the levers 9, one at each side of the machine,

which are connected at their lower ends to the shaft M. Then at oneside-of the machine a short am It extends downwardly from the shaft 10'and is pivotally secured at its lower end to a second arm l2. Anothermember having an arm l3,asecond arm ll andathirdarm Ibis pivotally as atIS. The outer end of the machine andis secured at each end to themembers 28. The plate 20 is provided with an elongated rod having anenlarged portion 26- and a smaller portion 21 which is threaded. Thereis an opening in the plate 20 to admit the smaller threaded portion ofthe rodand the shoulder between the larger and smaller portions 26 and21 is adapted to abut against the inner side of the plate 20. The outerend of the portion 26 is provided with a handle or knob 28 in order tomore easily operate saidrod for the purpose intended. The lower edge 'ofthe plate 20 is provided with a bracket 29 having a rod 30 extendingbetween the outer ends thereof on which is pivotally mounted a member39. Said member 3| is provided at its outer end with two hooks 32 between which extends a rod 33 provided with a screw threaded opening inthe center thereof adapted to receive the threaded portion of the rod21. Viewing the mechanism as shown in Fig.

3, it will be evident that a rotation of the knob 28 will cause thehooks 32 to be moved either toward the left or the right, depending uponthe direction of rotation. These hooks are so located with respect tothe bar 25 that when the two machines are in operativerelation the hooks82 abut tightly against an edge of the bar 25 to hold the foldingmachine securely in place.

A horizontal bar 34 having a plurality of fingers 38a provided withhorizontal portions 35 at the the arm I3 is pivotally secured to thelower end of the arm l2;' thearm' I5 is curved-as shown in Fig. 1 andhas its lower end mounted on the shaft I, while the arm 14 extendsrearwardly in substantial alinement with the arm I: and is upper endthereof is secured to the. uppper portion of the plate 20. Saidhorizontal portions are adapted to extend and bridge the gap between theend of the conveyor on the folding machine and the conveyor on thewrapping machine to provide a support for the U. boxes in their transferfrom one machine to the other. It is sometimes necessary to vary thedistance the two machines depending upon the'size of the hooks 32.Obviously, therefore, the'distance that the heads 31 are from the plate29 determines the distance between the two machines in their operativerelation and will also determine'the' position of the fingers 34 withrespect to the two machines. adjust theposition of theflngers 3441.

At each side of the machine andpositioned vertically is a siding plate39 extending substanr tially the full length thereof andis secured tothe inner side of each side plate l9. Extending in a horizontal planefrom the upper edge of each side plate 39 is a horizontal member-.49which may either be integral with or rigidly secured to said sideplatesuch as by welding. The horizontal members 49 each at its inneredge has" an upturned portion 4|. A plurality of angles such as at 42extending across the machine between the side plates have their upperhorizontal .por-

tions secured to the under side of the members 49, thus making a morerigid structure.

' A shaft 43 extends at the front end of the machine between the twoside portions 39 and is screw-threaded in opposite directions fora-considerable distance each side of its center for purposes ofadjusting certain parts of the machine- 1 extends the full length of thefolding machine and passes around the sprockets on the two shafts 43 and45. A plurality of spaced apart cross- The nuts 39, then, are utilizedto on the shaft 59 and secured thereto one at each side of themachine's-re sprocket wheels 51 which have endless chains 58 therearoundextending to and incontact with similar wheels on the shaft 45, which,when rotated, will also rotate the shaft '45 together with the sprocketwheels 49 thereon.

v It will be evident that when the gears 9 and 9 are in mesh and thegear9 rotates in a clockwise direction'(Flg. 1) the gear 8 and shaft l withthe sprocket wheel thereon in contact with the chain 99 will be rotatedin a counter-clockwise direction. This direction of rotation of theshaft.

.landthechain59willcauseaclockwiserotation of the shaft 5l together withthe sprocket wheel 94 thereon and a counter-clockwise rotation of theshaft 59 and the sprocket wheel 55.

This, inturn, will also cause a counter-clockwise rotation of thesprocket wheels 51 and, through the chains 59 will cause a similarrotation in the shaft 45. A counter-clockwise rotation of the shaft 45together with the sprocket wheels 49 thereon will cause the upper runs41 of the chains which extend the length of the machine, to-'- getherwith the cross-flights 49 therebetween, to

move toward the left as viewed in Fig. 1.

Also extending substantially the full length of the machine and on eachside thereof are the flights 49 extend between the two chains and aresecured at each end thereto and-in order to insure the upper run of thechains extending in a 50 shaft 59 which has sprocket wheels 49a neareachlend thereof (one of which is shown in Fig. 4) freelyriding thereonand adapted to contact the lower run 48 of the chains. Below the shaft59 but above the stub shaft 1 and extending across the machine betweendownwardly extending portions of the side members 19 is located a shaft5!. Above this shaft is a short stub shaft 52 which has thereon asprocket wheel 59. Secured'to the outer end of shaft 5| and rotatebletherewith is a sprocket wheel 54. Still another sprocket wheel issecured tothe stub shaft 1 and is adapted to rotate with the gear 9 whenthe screw-threaded shaft .43, and the inner side it is in mesh with thegear 9, and another sprocket wheel 55 is secured to the outer end oftheshaf't 59. All of the sprocket wheels 59, 94 and 95, to-

the outer end of the stub shaft I. are in substangether with the onejust mentioned secured to tially the same vertical plane and have incontact therewith and passing therearound in the manhorizontallypositioned plates 59 (Fig. 2), the inner edges of which extenddownwardly at an angle as at 99 (Fig. 8). The edges are then return benthorizontally as at 9| and then again upwardly as at 92. The outerlongitudinal sides thereof extend downwardly as at 93. These members 59not only serve as surfaces on which the operator ofthe machine may workbut their inner edges also provide-guides for the ends of the U boxes asthey are moved along the conveyor by the'cross-flights 49.

A plurality of narrow angles on each side of the machine and-spacedapart throughout the length thereof are provided which have horizontalinwardly extending arms94 and downward- 1y or vertically extending arms95. Openings are provided in the upturned portions 92 of the therein inalinement with similar screw-threaded holes in the downwardly extendingportions 99 of the plate 59 adapted to receive a wing nut 99 whereby theplates and the angles are secured 1 together. Extending inwardly fromthe lower ends of each the portions 95 are rods 91 which haveblocks 99secured thereto at their inner ends. .To the under side of the blocks 99are there is located a U-shaped bracket indicated generally at Ill andwhich is provided with inner and outer sides II and 12 respectively. Theforwardends of the sides I! and 12 are secured to II is provided with anextension 13 which is secured torthe forward end of the member. 99 bymeans of the screws 14. The rear of the members 9'9,fadjacent the pointwhere they are secured to the blocks 99 onthe rods 91, arealso. securedto the bearing members I5 through which passes the rearmost shaft 19which lsalso screwthreaded in opposite directions for a distance eachside of its center similar to the screw-..

threadedshaft 43. The shaft 19 also extendsacrossth'emachineandhasits'endsmountedin bearlngs on theside members-Obviou y, since it is desired to have the displates 59 to receive theinner ends of the -horlzontal portions 94 of said angles, while thevet-4 tical' portions 99 have screw-threaded holes tance between theplates 59 accommodate various size boxes, it is important that they beadjustable. Said side plates 59 are connected indirectly through theangle members 64, the rods 81 and the elongated members 59 to the frontand rear screw-threaded shafts 43 and 16 respectively. The outer end ofthe screw-threaded shaft $3 is provided with a crank member 11 securedthereto so that the screw-threaded shaft- 43 may be manually rotated. Toavoid the possibility of one end of the guide plates 59 being is passed(Fig. 1) so that when the shaft 43 is I rotated manually by means of thecrank handle 11, the chain 82 will cause a similar rotation of the shafti6, and since the elongated members 69 are connected at both ends tothese shafts, the guide plates 59 will be moved simultaneously eithertoward or away from each other depend- .ing upon the direction ofrotation of the shafts.

At the front end of the machine two plates or castings 83 of theconfiguration shown in Fig. 1 are secured, one at each side, to the sideplates '39, and between the plates 83 is located the rack which holds aplurality of pasteboard blanks, to-'- gether with the mechanism whichfeeds 'said blanks intermittently to the conveyor and folds the endsthereof inwardly to form the U box. A shaft 84 extends across the frontof the machine which is screw-threaded in opposite directions for adistance on each side of the center thereof, and secured to the outerend of the shaft is a handle or crank member 85 which is used tomanually rotate the shaft 94. Brackets 86 are provided, one at each sideof the machine, having a configuration substantially as shown in Fig. 5and which have bearings 8'! at their lower ends surrounding the shaft 84(Fig. '7) Each of the bearings is provided with a screw-threaded member88 integral therewith adapted to're ceive the threadedportion of the rodor shaft 84. The upper portion of the brackets 88 are provided with hatfaces normally set at an ang'le to the vertical and the supporting anglemembers 89 are adapted to be secured thereto. The stack of pasteboardblanks 90 is adapted to be placed between the angle members 89 and, toaccommodate various size blanks it is necessary that the angle members89 be adjustable. Furthermore, some of the blanks, although they may belonger than others, may be adaptedfor boxes having a greater depth thanothers in which case the guide members 59 and parts associated therewithwould need no adjustment to accommodate different size blanks. For thisreason the shaft 84 is adapted to be rotated independently of the othertwo similar shafts 43 and 18. Obviously, a rotation of the shaft 84bymeans of the handle 85 will cause the brackets 85 together with thesupporting angles 89 seof one inch, the over all length of thepasteboard blank would then be twelve inches. This would mean that thesupporting angles 99 would be positioned approximately twelve inchesapart whereas the longitudinal guides extending the length of themachine above the conveyor would 'be located only ten inches apart.Also, if a; U

box is to be made having a length of ten inches but a depth of twoinches, the over all length of the pasteboard blank would then befourteen inches. guides above the conveyor would remain the sameltoaccommodate this size box, but it would be necessary to adjust thesupporting angles 89 so that the distance between them would be fourteeninches. Thus is demonstrated the necessity for having-the adjustingmeansfor the supporting angles 89 separate and independent from the adjustingmeans for the guide plates 59 and parts associated therewith.

Rearwardly of the angles 89, in a direction toward the wrapping machine,a casting 9! is provided which extends across the machine and is securedat each end to the cast plate 83. In substantially the center of thecasting 9| and to the upper side thereof is secured a member 92 (Fig. 5)which is grooved and is adapted to receive a slotted member 93 adaptedto be secured'to the member 92 by means of the wing nut 94. The slot inthe member 93 enables it to be adjusted either toward or away from theangle members 89. The member 93 aids in supporting the stack ofpasteboard blanks 9.0 asshown in Fig. 5 and is made adjustable toaccommodate blanks of different stiffness which are being fed to thefolding machine.

Each of the brackets 85 at its lower end curved inwardly, as shown inFig. 5, and terminates in a flat portion adapted to have secured theretothe side guide plates 95 by means of the bolts 96. The side guides 95maintain each of the pasteboard blanks in alinement with the conveyor asthey are fed downwardly intermittently from the supporting angles 89,and being secured to the same member as the supporting angles and spacedapart the same distance they will also be adjusted simultaneously withsaid supporting angles 89. Between the supporting angles 89 and thebracket 86, and extending across the front of the machine is anelongated cast bar 91 which is secured at each end by means of the bolts98 to the side plates 83. The lower end of the bar cured thereto to moveeither toward or away.

from each other depending upon the direction of rotation of said shaft,and this adjustment is 'made independently of the longitudinal side 91is provided with a fiat surface on an enlarged portion 99 (Fig. 5) towhich is secured ,by means of the bolt I00 the strip or plate II. Thisplate is located substantially midway between the ends of the bar 91 andserves as a support for each pasteboard blank as it is fed downwardlyfrom the supporting angles 89 and before it is picked up and fed to theconveyor.

Thespecific means which we have chosen to intermittently feed a singleblank from the rack to the supporting strip it'll consists of a shaftI02 which extends acrossthe front of the machine and is mounted inbearings at each side thereof in the side plates 83. Near one end of theshaft I02 a sprocket wheel 103 is secured thereto and is adapted torotate with a similar sprocket wheel I04 in the same vertical planetherewith near one end of "the shaft 43. The previously describedsprocket wheel 44 is integral with or securedto the sprocket wheel I04and rotates continuously therewith. The sprocket chain I05 extendsaround the sprocket wheel I03 The distance between the longitudinalwhich extends acrossthe front of the machine in parallel relation to theshaft I 02 and is adapted to be freely movable longitudinally within thehollow shaft ltd. The hollow it r it! is mounted between the side platesIt and at the outer end thereof a disk It! is provided either integraltherewith or secured thereto. At the same end of the inner shaft Ml agear H is secured adapted to be enmeshed with the gear lot on the shaft92. As previously pointed out the shaft M7 is freely slidablylongitudinally within the hollow shaft W8 and at its opposite end it isprovided with a knob iii which may be pushed or pulled for a purposewhich will be more fully described hereinafter.

Referring for the moment to Fig. it which shows the detailedconstruction of the disk W9 and the gear Mo on an enlarged scale it willbe noted that the plate was is provided with a slot H2. The gear Mil isof the shape-shown in Fig. l0 and is provided at its inner face with apin H3. The gears I M and H0 are in constant engager'nent, the gear to;rotating continuously,

.the form of a fork provided with a pin H9 on which the roller "8 ismounted torotate. In cooperation with the rollers H8 are the rubberrollers I20, which may either be solid rubber or a metal roller havingan outer rubber covering entirely therearound. These rollers are mountedon the shaft I02 and'rotate continuously therewith. The upwardlyextending arm of -the cast member iIE has an opening therein adapted toreceive an elongate threaded pin I2i which also extends through anopening in the casting 9| and is provided with a head I 22. A nut IE3 isplaced on the lower end of the threaded pin I to prevent the arm of thecasting lit from being disengaged therefrom. A compression spring I21extends around the pin iii and between the under side of the casting 9iand the upper side of the arm H6. The spring with the roller thereon,toward the right as viewed in Fig. 5 and forces the roller H8 againstedge of the blank will be forced between theand when the knob III ispulled, the pin 3 will enter the slot ll2 thereby transmitting arotative movement in a clockwise direction of the outer hollow shaftill. There is usually a covering or guard (not shown) over the gears I06and Hit which limits the outward sliding movement of shaft I" therebypreventing disengagement of the two gears. A plurality of rollers I" aresecured to the shaft I08 in spaced apart relation as shown in When theshaft I08 and the wheels Ill secured thereto rotate in a clockwisedirection, the pad H5 will intermittently strike a pasteboard blank- 90and the friction between the two will cause the lowermost blank to bemoved downwardly and fed to the supporting member Ill. If, for anyreason,'it is desired that the machine be kept running without thefeeding mechanism operating, the knob III may be pushed to disengage thepin .III i'romslot II2 thereby preventing any further rotation of theshaft Ill and consequent feeding of a pastcboard blank. It will beobvious .that the size of thewheels Ill which the space will permit willnot be large enough to move each of the pastcboard blanks the entiredistance they are to travel, since the machine is designed to contacteach blank near I the lower edge thereof, and it therefore becomesnecessary to provide further means to continue movement of each blankafter it has been started in the proper direction by contact with thepads H5. This .mechanism which continues movethe rubber surface of theroller I20. The continuous rotation of the shaft-I02 and rollers 52d incontact with the rollers H8, will also cause a continuous rotation in aclockwise direction. of said rollers IiB.

Since these rollers are positioned adjacent the rollers Ill with therubber pads. i i5 thereon. each time the lowermost blank is contacted bythe rubber pad H5 and moved downwardly, the lower rollers [I8 and INwhich are continuously rotating in a direction such. that the blank willbe picked up and forced to move onto the supporting plate mi from whichpoint it is picked up and transferred to the conveyor, during whichmovement the ends thereof will be folded inwardly in a manner which willpresently be de scribed.

The pasteboard blanks 90 are each previously scored at a distance infrom each end thereof equal to the depth of the final U-box before theyare stacked in the rack provided by the supporting angles 89, and whenthey are'fed downwardly to thesupporting plate IBI and transferred tothe 55 adiusting crank I1 is rotated.

ment of the blanks consists in a plurality of spaced apart castingsllt-which are mounted loosely on the shaft I08 and which have upward- 1yextending arms terminating beneath the cast bracket 8|. a bell crank andhas integral therewith a lower arm II'I extending downwardly andprovided The casting II! is in the form of v with a roller member I I8freely rotatable with m are held rigidly with respect to the coverplates 5! and vwill move therewith when the Mounted loosely on the shaftit at each side of the machine and between the open ends of the U memberII is a block I28which has integral therewith oppositely extendingfingers I29, one at i the bottom and one at the top thereof. The block'12! together with the fingers I29 thereon isadapted to be rotated eachtime a cross-flight 49 approaches said block at the underside thereofand as said cross-flight moves upwardly to the top run ll of thesprocket chain. Fig. 5 will 11- lustrate the manner in which thisoperation occurs where it is seen that a cross-flight moving toward theright on the bottom run'll'of the sprocket chain comes against thelowermost finger I2! and carries the-finger upwardly during which time apasteboard blank will have been fed to the supporting member III. As'thefingers I2! move upwardly, carried by a cross-flight I,

- they will pick u said pasteboird blank, and in respect thereto. Thearm III may be made in 5 transferring it to the conveyor will passbetween 6 ascents the side members I25 which are set a distance apartequal to the final length of the box. This movement will cause the endsof the blank beyond the scored section to be folded inwardly. V The V Ubox is, then, formed before it reaches the conveyor.

Each of the cross-flights 40 is provided in substantially the centerthereof with spaced apart downwardly extending fingers Ill (Figs. 2, 7and 8) which engage against a side edge of the box and move it towardthe wrapping 10 machine. The fingers I29 are adapted to come within theside members I25 and after one blank has been deposited on the conveyor,the

' next succeeding cross-flight will again contact the oppositelyextending .flnger I29 which will then pick up. a succeeding blank torepeat the operation.

It has been found that if the ends of the blank are folded merely to aninety degree position, there will be a tendency for the ends to springoutwardly and it is therefore necessary for some additional force tobeapplied to the ends which will bend them inwardly stil1 farther foronly a short period of time after which the ends will normally remain inan upright position.

This succeeding operation on the upturned ends is accomplished by meansof the membersor plates III positioned at each side of themachine. Thesemembers are provided with slots I32 through which a screw I83 passes andwhich secures the members to the top covers 59. The cross section oftheplates ISI is as shown in Fig.

8 and is provided with inwardly extending portions I34 (Fig. 2). Theportions I34 are of a substantially triangular shape and as the U -box35 moves toward the rear of the machine the ends thereof will contactthe portions I34 which extend inwardly, thereby forcing the end membersinwardly during the time they are that particular point. After the boxhas passed the inwardly extending portions I34, the scored section hasbeen sufliciently broken so that there will no longer be any tendencyfor theend portions to move outwardly.

To obviate any possibility that the box itself will be moved laterallyof the machine during the time the end portions are being bent in-'wardly by the members I34, means have: been provided to contact thelower edges of the box to hold it in position until after the portionI34 5 has been passed. -Thts means consists of an elongated bar I84 oneach side which may either be integral with or secured to the rearmostportion of the U. member'll (Fig. 8).- The outer longitudinal edge ofeach bar Iii-is thickened as at I36 (Figs. 8. and 8) 'thereby providinga; shoulder I3], and it is against this shoulder that. thebottom edgesof the .U box are adapted to abut during its movementpast the portionI34.

Spaced-apart supporting members Ill extend so longitudinally of themachine and are secured by means of welding. or, any other desiredmeans, I

to the cross bars orangles 42. The supporting members I30 are spacedapart a distance on each side thereof which extend downwardly and whichterminatein inwardly extending portions cross bars 42. The supportingsurfaces Illto gather with the bar I serve as means to support the boxas it travels towardthe wrapping machine after it has been folded bymeans of the the bar I and between it and the supporting surfaces illare provided to permit movement therethrough of the downwardly extendingflngers III on the cross-flights 49.

As the cross-flights move rearwardly toward the wrapping machine andcarry the U boxes" over the supporting surfaces I38 and thebar I4I,operators may stand' at either side of the machine and placethe articlesinto the boxes which are to be eventually wrapped and placed on sale.When the boxes reach the end of the conveyor where the cross-flightsmove downwardly to begin their return to the front of the machine, it isnecessary to provide additional means which will move the boxes from theconveyor onto the wrapping machine before the cross-flights reach theend of the conveyor and move downwardly. This is obviously necessary inview of the fact that if an edge of the box remains in contact with across-flight and is in contact therewith at the moment the cross-flightturns downwardly, the edge of the cross-flight will tend to either upsetthe box together with its contents or cut theedge cross-flight before itturns downwardly. The

means-which performs this function must also move rearwardly at a rateof speed greater than that of the crow-flight.

The mechanism which we have particularly designed for this purposeincludes a cross bar I42 which has a plurality of fingers I43 extendingupwardly therefrom and which are adapted to extend upwardly through thespaces between the plurality of spaced apart bars I44 which 7 act as apport for the box beyond the rearmost edge of the supporting plates I38.Near each end of the bar II! the end of .a channel member I I4! iswelded, which channel members extend rearwardly and have secured theretoa bearing member I46 by means of the screws I41. The bearing member I48extends forwardly and is mounted on a shaft I4 which extends across themachine. At each side of the machine and pivotally mounted on the shaftI4! is an arm I48 which extends downwardly and has its other end mountedon the rock shaft I" which also extends across the width of the machine.At substantiallythe center of the machine another arm III is secured-tothe rock shaft I54 and extends downwardly and rearwardly therefrom. Thelower end of the arm Iil is provided with a pin I62 which has a rollerI53 rotatably mounted thereon. Adjacent the roller Ill and secured tothe shaft fl is a splitbearingmember II4 which is secured to the shaftI. Thebearing member. I4 at one side thereof is provided with a verticalface with. a plurality of bolts extending therefrom. Also mounted on theshaft BI and adjacent the split bearing III is scam I" having theconfiguration substantially asshown inl'lg. 3 and provided with aplurality of arcuate slots side members III. The on each side ofvclltiqn since it could he done by providing the split bearing with aplurality of screwthreaded openings adapted to receive bolts insertedtherein'through the slots I56. The obvious purpose of the plurality ofslots is to regulate or set the cam I55 any desired position, because itis this cam which controls the movement of the bar I42 and the fingersM3 extending therefrom.

Also secured to the shaft I50 is an arm I5l which extends upwardly andis secured to a block l58. An elongated rod I59 is either secured to orintegral with the block I53 and extends rearwardly of the machinethroughan opening in the plate 20. At a distance away from the platealong the rod a collar I60 is secured. Between it and the plate 20 islocated a compression spring IM coiled around the rod I59. Withparticular reference for the moment to Fig. 3 it will be evident thatthe spring itl willforce the rod I together with its associated partsE50 and, I51 L the machine, and this movement is designed to take placeat a rate of speed greater than the movement of the cross-flights 09.

It is to be understood that the fingers Hi3 must be able to bepositioned below the cross-flights. during certain intervals to enablesaid crossflights to move freely toward the wrapping machine, but atother times they must be raised in the path of a cross-flight in orderto contact an edge of the box to move it rearwardly. Therefore, themovement of the fingers M3 is such that they will be moved upwardly atthe moment the forward edge of a cross-flight is in vertical alinementtherewith. I-his is permitted by reason of the recesses in saidcross-flights as shown in Figs. 2, 7 and 8. The fingers I43 then moveforwardly at a comparatively rapid rate of speed and as soon as the boxhas been deposited on the conveyor of the wrapping machine they are thenlowered and returned to their original position in readiness for thenext succeeding box. It has been seen by the above explanation themanner in which the rearward and forward movements of the fingers takeplace, and in order that the fingers may be raised and lowered at theproper moment, the cam members I62 are secured to the shaft 50immediately below the channel members I45. During each revolution of thecams I62 their enlarged portion will contact the under side of thechannel member thus raising the fingers I43, and by the time'thesefingers have reached the rear of the machine the cam will have-passedits highest point at which time the fingers will be lowered during theforward or return movement thereof. By the time the nextsucceedingcross-flight with its box is in vertical alinement with the fingers, thecams I02 will have completed a rotation and will have raised the fingersagain for the next succeeding operation. I

In certain instances the pasteboard blanks may be covered with wax,depending upon the type of article to be wrapped, and when thisoccursthe use of the plain section of rubber I I5 has been found to be "ratherunsatisfactory. When the rubber H5 should be roughened to a certainextent so that suflicient friction will occur between the rubber and theblankto enable said blank to be fed. Obviously the member H5 whichfrictionally feeds the blanks need not be rubber but could also be madeof any other material with a sufficiently roughened surface to preventslipping on the waxed surface of the blanks.

It has been stated heretofore that it is not always necessary to form aU box, it being permissible at times to feed merely fiat cards on whichthe articles to be wrapped are placed before wrapping. When it isdesired to merely feed a flat card and omit the folding operation, it ismerely distance between the side folding members 925.

will be equal to the length of the card being fed and the foldingoperationwill thereby be omitted.

blanksto be fed'are waxed, the surface of the EDGE.

With particular reference to Fig. 11, wherein a modification of theintermittent feeding device is shown, the wheelsorrollers ill will beformed as a complete circle without any additional material lying aroundaportion of the circumfer- When the full circular wheels are used, ,theyare adapted to move or rotate approximately one-third of a revolutionandthen stop and remain stationary while the rollers ltd are turningapproximately two-thirds of a revolution. This intermittent motion ofthe rollers H0 is caused by the mechanism shown in Fig. 11. In this casethe gears I06 and I 10 will be omitted entirely and in the place of thegear E06 there will be a sprocket wheel I10 which is provided with teetharound only a portion of its circumference. The wheel I10 is secured tothe shaft I02 and rotates continuously therewith. The gear H0 will bereplaced by the sprocket wheel Ill which is secured to the shaft I01.Below the shaft I02 at the same side of the machine and pivotallymounted to the side thereof by means of the stub shaft I12 is an armI13. A stub shaft I14 extends through the outer end of the arm and hassecured thereto the sprocket wheel I15. A round these various sprocketwheels extends a sprocket chain I16 in the manner shown in Fig. 11. Anydesired means may be used for exerting a downward pressure on the armI13 to prevent slipping of the sprocket chain I16. 1

Obviously the same driving connection could be used between the shaftI01 and the hollow shaft me as is s own in Fig. 10. but it has beendetermined that a friction drive between a solid plate similar to theplate I09 and the fiat side of the sprocket wheel I" would operateequally as well. When the shafts I01 and I08 are in driving to beseparable, they will'first be moved in longitudinal' alinement and thegears I; and 8 will be brought into contact by operation of the lever 9;the chain 54 will then cause a clockwise rotation of the shaft 5| and acounter-clockwise rotation of the shaft 50. By means of the chains 50 ateach side of the machine driven from sprockets on theshaft 50, the shaft45 together with the sprocket wheels thereon will drive the chain havingthe upper and lower runs 41 and 48- respectively. The movement of thelast named chain will cause a rotation of the sprocket wheel II, and thechain I associated therewith will also cause a rotation ofthe shaft I02and the gear Int. At this point the cross-flights as on the upper run ofthe chain 41 are moving rearwardly toward the wrapping machine.

Assuming that a pack of pasteboard blanks have been placed in the rackprovided by the sup! porting angles 89, the knob II will then be pulledto engage the gear IIII with the gear I08 thereby causing a rotation ofthe shaft I01, the hollow shaft I08, and the rollers I. associatedtherewith. As has been pointed out previously, each rotation of therollers Ill, by means of the pad H5 thereon, moves the lower-most blankto be fed downwardly between the rollers IIB and I20, and since theroller I20 is secured to the shaft I02'it will be continuously rotatingto carry the blank downwardly and deposit it on the support IIII. Atthis point a cross-flight 49 on the lower run 48 will have movedforwardly to begin its upward travel and bring with it the two fingers.

I29 which will pick up a blank previously deposited on the support I'Iilto carry it upwardly between the side members I25 which automaticallymeans to transfer a blank from said support to said conveyor, and meansto engage the ends of a blank before it reaches the conveyor to foldsaid plurality of pasteboard blanks, a conveyor, a supbend the endportions inwardly. When the fln-.

gers I 29 again reach theirhorizontal position the U box will then havebeen deposited on the supporting side members I with its outer edgesabutting against the shoulders I31. The crossflight then moves the boxrearwardly past the inthen to avoid any damage to the box'by :a subportbetween said rack and said conveyor, means for delivering said blankssingly to said support, means to transfer a blank from said support tosaid conveyor, and means interposed in the path of movement of theblankfrom the support to the conveyor to engage against the endsthereof, thereby folding said ends inwardly.

3. A pasteboard folding machine of the character described comprising, aconveyor, a rack for holding a plurality of pasteboard blanks. a supportadjacent said rack, friction means to deliver a single blankintermittently from the rack to the support, means to deliver a blankfrom said support to-said conveyor, and means adjacent said support toengage the ends of said blank as it is 7 being delivered to theconveyor, whereby said ends are folded inwardly.

4. A pasteboard folding machine of the character described comprising, aconveyor, a plurality of spaced apart cross-flights thereon and movable'therewith, a rack at one end of said conveyor adapted to hold aplurality of pasteboard blanks, means between said conveyor and saidrack to fold the ends of a blank inwardly, thereby forming a U-box,means for depositing said U -'box onsaid conveyor between successivecrossflights whereby it is carried to the opposite end of the conveyor.

5. The combination of elements defined in claim 4, combined with meansadjacent said opposite endto transfer a U'-box to a point beyond the endbefore the cross-flight immediately behind sequent movement downwardlyof the crossflight, at the proper'moment the fingers Ill will be raisedupwardly and moved rearwardly and deposit the box across theintermediate support 35 onto the conveyor of the wrapping machine. Thefingers will then be lowered and begin their forward or return movementto permit the crossflight 49 to move downwardly and return to th frontend of the machine. v e

As above pointed out, the folding mechanism can be made integral withthe wrapping machine for use in smaller bakeries where they have only alimited line of goods. On theother hand it can be made in a separateunit for use inthose bakeries which are already equipped with a wrappinmachine and which do a large bread slicing andwrapping.

amoimt of claims or the equivalent of such stated means beemployed.

i We, therefore, particularly point, out

tinctly claim as our invention:

1. A pasteboard folding machine of the character described comprising,arack for holding a plurality of pasteboard blanks, a conveyor, :5.sup-- port between said rack and said conveyor, means and dis chineconveyor to push an article toward the re-.- ceiving conveyor, and meansto transfer the ar ticle from the folding machine conveyor to the saidblank reaches said end.

-6. The combination of elements defined in claim 4, combined with meansto fold the ends of said U-box inwardly still farther for only a shortperiod of time.

Fl. A pasteboard folding machine of the char-- acter describedcomprising, aconveyor, means for folding inwardly the ds of a pasteboardblank to form a U-box, means for feeding single blanks to said foldingmeans, means for transferrlng said U-box to said conveyor, and meansto'momentarlly hold the ends of said wardly still farther.

8. The combination with a folding machine and a receiving conveyor toreceive articles from the folding machine, of a conveyoron the fold-'ing machine, a cross-flight on the folding mareceiving conveyor beforesaid cross-flight reaches the end of the folding machine conveyor.

9. The combination of elements defined in claim 8, wherein said meansmoves said article at a speed greater than the speed of said foldingmachine conveyor.

10. The combination of elements defined in claim 8, said means includinga bar providedwith a plurality of fingers, a cam for moving said fingersupwardly immediately behind said article, andacamactuated armsecuredtosaidbarto move said lingers forwardly, whereby said article is depositedon said receiving conveyor.

1-1. A pastehoard folding machine for making U-boxes comprising, aconveyor, a. rack for holdfor delivering said blanks singly to saidsupport, 7 ms a p u y s imr s. a s pport U-box inextending between saidrack and conveyor, means for intermittently depositing-a single blankfrom the rack onto said support, fingers located at each side oi! saidsupport and below the same, means for moving said fingers upwardly topick up said blank and deposit same on the conveyor, and means mountedat each side of said conveyor in the path of movement or said blank tofold t the ends thereof inwardly.

12. The combination of elements'defined in claim 11, combined with aplate at each side of said conveyor having a portion thereof extendingin the path of movement of said intumed ends, to momentarily hold saidendsinwardly still farther.

13. The combination of elements defined in claim 11, combined with aplurality of spaced apart cross-flights on saidconveyor, saidcrossflights constituting said means for moving the fingers upwardly.

14. A pasteboard folding machine comprising,

a rack for holding a plurality of pasteboard blanks, a conveyor adjacentsaid rack, means to deliver blanks singly from said rack, means todeposit each of said delivered blanks to said conveyor, and meanslocated between said rack and conveyor to fold the ends of said blanksinwardly. 15. A pasteboard folding machine comprising,

a rack for holding a plurality of pasteboard blanks, a conveyor adjacentsaid rack, means to deliver blanks singly from said rack, means todeposit each of said delivered blanks to said con veyor, means to foldthe ends of said blanks inwardly, means at the opposite end of theconveyor to receive said blanks, cross-flights on said conveyor, andmeans to deliver said blanks to said receiving means before eachpreceding crossflight reaches the end of said conveyor.

HOWARD B. TUTnnL. HARRY F. CALDWELL.

